It’s a mysterious face that gazes back at us. Mocking, defiant and sinister, this mask has become a symbol of revolt and revolution in the modern day. We see it at protests. We see it on TV. We see it online. One group, Anonymous, has appropriated this mask as their hallmark. It’s fitting for that organization and others like it. We don’t know their motive. We don’t know their identities. We only know of their cause.

On November 5, 1605 a Catholic named Guy Fawkes conspired to blow up the Protestant House of Lords in an event that is known as the Gunpowder Plot. But he and his co-conspirators were discovered before they could carry out their plan, and the day has since become a British holiday of thanksgiving. This holiday involves lighting bonfires and burning effigies of individuals such as Guy Fawkes and the Pope. From this tradition emerged the Guy Fawkes mask forever a symbol of the philosophy he championed.